The Warden: Prison is a Punishment
by Ariastella
Summary: Was anyone else angry when they saw Kristoph's 'Cell' in AJ? Because, I sure as heck was! This is a One-Shot featuring a retired leatherneck turned Correctional Officer by the name of Taimak Thunderwolf, who is taking over as the new prison warden at the penitentiary where Kristoph Gavin is incarcerated. He seems to share my displeasure.
**The Warden: Prison is a Punishment**

by Ariastella

Summary:

Was anyone else angry when they saw Kristoph's 'Cell' in AJ? Because, I sure as heck was! This is a One-Shot featuring a retired leatherneck turned Correctional Officer by the name of Taimak Thunderwolf, who is taking over as the new prison warden at the penitentiary where Kristoph Gavin is incarcerated. He seems to share my displeasure.

This character & indeed a great deal of this story was inspired by JordanPhoenix's truly wonderful piece "Turnabout Everlasting." With her permission, this & any other One-Shots that I may post a part of the 'Warden' Series that she decides to use, is considered a lose tie-in to her Fanfiction "Turnabout Everlasting."

Notes:

For JordanPhoenix.

Okay, this'll be the first fanfic I've posted in years, so please have mercy.

Disclaimer:  
I don't own the Ace Attorney Series; that right belongs to CAPCOM.  
I don't own Disney or anything it's associated with, this includes the movie "Treasure Planet."  
I don't own Cheetos, though they ARE delicious.  
I sure as heck don't own either the US Marines or the US Army & the closest person I can think of who does, sits in the Oval Office. Though, I do have a couple of family members & friends of the family who happen to be either retired or active Service Men/Women, so please understand that I DO have the utmost respect for ANYONE in this line of work.

About the only thing I DO own is the character Taimak Thunderwolf & I consider that a shared custody between me & JordanPhoenix.

I honestly think that it would be a crime to not give, at least, partial credit to JordanPhoenix, who offered me a list of fantastic character names for me to choose from. Of which, one can probably tell that I chose Taimak Thunderwolf, because, dang, if that's not a cool name! She's also been a very nice individual that I was able to throw some concepts & ideas for this fic around with. I DID name his kid, though.

Moving on, I tried to do some research to get the story as accurate as possible, but I wouldn't be surprised, at all, if I totally messed up on a lot of things. I'd appreciate constructive criticism, possibly from those who have first-hand knowledge, so that I may better improve... Well, in general, really.

Finally, I understand that there may be some trigger topics in my story. I hope anyone reading this also understands that I do NOT mean to cause offense or distress in any form or fashion. My foremost apologies for any undue emotional duress my readers may experience.

I really, REALLY hope that I didn't leave anything out... Wish me luck?

 **L.A. Penitentiary**

Warden Taimak Thunderwolf, former Lieutenant Colonel in the US Marines, scanned the halls carefully, with striking Harvest Gold eyes. This would be his new stomping grounds; after all, he should become better acquainted with the battle field in case something unsavory ever happens.

As he'd marched down the grey-walled corridors, he'd seen multiple scum-bags to keep an eye on. Some he'd already known of, but had been unaware was incarcerated in this particular Penitentiary. His stride was a brisk, even pace with long measured steps, leaving a trail of smoke in his wake. His back was straight, head level, & hands clasped behind his back. With his 7.5 feet in height & 387 pounds of solid muscle, he cut quite the intimidating figure, to be sure.

Passing by barred windows briefly illuminated his rough, tanned skin, covered in faded scar tissue aplenty with only a few wrinkles around his eyes. His chestnut hair was just beginning to be speckled with grey.

Though, he knew it was juvenile, he specifically had his hair cut to look like a character from his middle daughter's favorite animated Disney movie growing up. The reason? Because he'd liked the style & thought that he could pull it off. The movie was named "Treasure Planet" & the character had been the main protagonist, "Jim Hawkins."

The indignant look on the Barber's face when he'd 1st shown the man a picture of what he wanted would be forever stored happily in his memories.

The sides are cut close, like a buzz cut, but the hair circling the top of his head was left to grow & fall over the sides to stop short just passed the tops of his ears. He had a natural widow's peak, so that made it easier. The final touch was a braided rattail at the base of his neck forming a brush, like a lion's tail, at the end.

At the sides of his head, were small, well-groomed muttonchops. He had a full goatee that circled his mouth & chin; decently thick & bushy, but also well-groomed; it was only a half inch thick, at most. Aside from that, connecting his muttonchops to his goatee is the short, stubble of his ever present 5 o'clock shadow. To finish the image, he almost always had a cigarette in his mouth.

Today, he'd decided to wear his old Pickle Suit for good luck; badges & medals included, of course. Regulations & whatnot… Much as he _hated_ having to deal with them, his wife loved how he looked in the full get-up, so bonus! The only things that he'd really deviated on were the Purple Heart, pinned to his lapel  & his choice of headgear. The Purple Heart was more a snarky jibe. 'Oh? I thought you said I had to wear _all of them_. Well, here they are!'

As for the hat, they'd have to pry the one he was currently wearing from his cold, dead fingers before he'd let it go! The hat that originally went with the well taken care of uniform, he'd simply left at home. In its place was his eldest son, Kalen's, old Black Beret; the fatal bullet hole having been sown open, immortalizing the shot that had stolen his boy from him, while keeping the headgear from beginning to unravel. Unfortunately, the hole went straight through the dead center of the blue shield flash at the front, forever tarnishing the symbol that proved he'd been an Engineer for the US Army Rangers.

It sat with an unnatural weight on his brow, like a crown of burden he would wear it to his own grave & with his luck, meet Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates with it still on his head. His left leg was clad in a black steel-toed Combat Boot with a large buckle at the ankle. The boot, literally, had a steel toe that was visible as well as a steel heel, steel shin-guard, the buckle & even the fasteners for the laces were made of steel.

His Beautiful Bride had actually had it commissioned for his last birthday, the Angel. The steel shin-guard even had a fancy Oak Leaf engraved in the center, making it look like the symbol for his rank before he'd retired. To the sides, the leaf was guarded by a pair of 6-point beveled stars which were being flanked by a smaller, 5-point bevel star each.

His right leg, however, had no real need for foot wear considering he'd lost it more than a decade ago in the line of duty. Seriously, everything 5-inches below his right knee & down was gone.

It didn't bother him, though, especially with the badass Robo-Leg he got to replace it. If it hadn't been for Sol puttin' in a good word for him with those Scientist Ladies, he'd still be limping around with a peg-leg, instead. Sure, he'd still be kickin' ass, but it'd have probably really cut down on his quality of life.

It's likely that he'd have been forced to retire from the Marines before he was ready to, otherwise. Besides that, when he'd asked recently, the dominatrix scientist chick who'd originally made his Robo-Leg, told him that he could probably get a custom façade for it from a local bodyshop or smithy or whatever, without too much trouble & it shouldn't mess up anything. Now, his Robo-Leg matched the new boot his wife gave him & it didn't seem to interfere with any of the mechanics.

He, personally, thought he looked pretty good & judging by his wife's reaction that morning, she did, too.

 **30 Minutes of Inspecting Later**

The 'Inspection' had been going relatively well, all things considered. Until he'd caught sight of Furio Tigre; really, it was hard to miss a giant, grammatically-inept carrot stick with oily black hair that drooped down to his shoulders. ' _Hah! Even his hair is a fraud!_ ' He remembered that Case, the moron had somehow managed to impersonate Wright, which astonished him, even now. At the time, he'd been busy & when he saw the news of Wright's supposed thrashing, it'd just been embarrassing to think about. Imagine his relief when he learned that he wasn't the only one dumbfounded by this phenomenon.

Seriously, everyone in that Court House needs glasses, STAT! The big Cheeto even copied the hair of the recently cleared Defense Attorney. That'd have to be another thing to put on his Bucket List; increasing standard security procedures at the Court House.

It was ridiculous! People could just walk in with dangerous weapons, there were NO Metal Detectors, AT ALL, & there were clearly not enough guards on duty to go around. Otherwise, that Gramarye bum wouldn't have been _ALLOWED_ to just run off  & leave his poor daughter alone.

But, that's a rant for another time. Right now, he just needed to get away from this damn idiot.

The worst part had been _listening_ to him as Tai walked by his cell. The nitwit was like a fuckin' Tom Cat in Rut, or something! He just wouldn't shut up! Remembering some of those old, late-night cartoons from when he was a kid, Tai wondered if maybe throwing his boot at the noisemaker's head would work like it did on the TV, back then… Or a broom… That actually sounded like a great way to mock the Angry Kitty. ' _Note to Self: Get a reinforced Broom, so that I can, more effectively, pester the Prison's Cat._ '

Finally, as he strode passed the loud, orange annoyance, who was leaning against the bars with this cocksure grin on his face & tongue hanging out, the Warden popped him one, right in the kisser. Tai didn't even stop his march, so tired of the eyesore that was Tigre that he just wanted to get going.

The Tiger fell on his ass making a sound like a kicked kitten. It would've made the Warden feel slightly guilty if the damn fool hadn't started yelling again. "OOZ BAZ-DURB! OOZ BADE BEE BITHE BY PUNG! IBBA DONNA PILL OOZ, OL BAN!"

"Then, don't stick your tongue out, Pussy!" Taimak snarked, laughing heartily as he listened to the fool's screaming & cursing as it started to fade away. ' _Well, that was fun!_ '

10 minutes into his march, he caught a whiff off something. What was it? Saffron? Chamomile? No… Jasmine & Vanilla… Yes. It was Jasmine & Vanilla Tea. As rough as his exterior, Taimak actually preferred tea to coffee. Though, there were times when he got a craving for the dark abyssal brew, but it normally had to be high quality or for an emergency wake up.

But that's neither here nor there, WHY exactly was there good tea in his prison?!

He sped up his march into an even jog, following the scent of aromatic herbs boiled in water when all of a sudden, he found himself beginning to hallucinate. Why does he think that he's hallucinating? Because, that should be the only reasonable explanation as to why he was currently starring at the illusion of that Piss-Headed Attorney sipping tea inside an extravagantly furnished study with cell bars separating him from the obvious figment of his imagination.

Taimak blinks, taking in the sight before him & shakes his head to get the cobwebs out... Nope, still there. Feeling a tick forming under his eye, he takes a deep drag of his cigarette & releases a great puff of smoke into the air before turning to a nearby guard. "Officer…" His eyes roll upwards for a second in thought. "Carson, is it?" The guard nods, inwardly surprised that the new Warden has already learned his last name when the old one hadn't been bothered to do so in the five years that he'd worked there. "Well, Officer Carson, I have a question for you… What the actual **FUCK**... am I looking at here?"

Carson freezes in his spot, still at attention, but undeniably scared of his new superior. When he doesn't get a response, Warden Taimak continues, "Because I KNOW it's not a cell, even if it does have bars. So, why is it that a known murderer, who, by-the-way, unless you've forgotten; is responsible for multiple deaths and, at least, 1 attempted murder, is sitting there, having a Tea Party?!" The behemoth of a man's yellow-brown eyes practically sparked with rage as he towered over the officer.

Carson stutters, uncomfortable under the intimidating man's glower. "W-well, you see, Sir. The previous warden in charge p-paid us… T-that is, he p-paid the guards, extra to make sure that M-Mr. Gavin was well taken care of. I t-think I heard him s-say, it had s-something to do with his family being very influential."

The Warden was literally steaming. Though, in this case, he had smoke billowing out of his nostrils, giving him the image of an angry bull. "I DON'T CARE IF HIS DAD IS THE FUCKIN' **POPE**! HE'S A FILTHY, DISGUSTING, MURDEROUS PIECE OF SLIME! THIS IS A PRISON, FOR THE GOOD LORD'S SAKE, PEOPLE ARE SENT HERE TO BE PUNISHED!" The fury in his voice was palpable, rattling the bones of even Kristoph.

Taimak took another, even deeper breath & released it in such a way as to calm himself down. The last thing he needed was to sow distrust inside his subordinates' hearts & on the first day no less. "Let me try to put this into perspective for you, Officer Carson. Do you have children?"

Carson nodded. "Y-yes, Sir. Warden Thunderwolf, Sir. I have a boy & 2 girls." Taimak nodded, this would definitely help him get his point across, albeit a bit cruelly. Still, he continued, "And, you would do anything in your power to protect them, correct?"

"Absolutely, Sir!" It was stated with a certainty that Taimak had heard in his own voice many times in regards to his children, now either grown & with their own lives & families or passed on before their time. As such, he felt inclined to believe the man.

"Well, that man, right there, killed 2 people that we know of. 1 of them wasn't even his intended target. The person that he'd _meant_ to kill; had only been a little girl, at the time." Carson visibly paled, imagining the dead eyes of one of his own daughters in the place of this girl that he'd never seen, as theirs were the first ones that his mind could readily provide, having etched their faces into his memory long ago. It chilled him to the bone.

This was exactly what Taimak had been looking for as far as reactions went. As a father himself, he knew how terrifying it is to think about loosing your kids. Even more, he'd felt it himself… It still hurt, thinking of Kalen.

It was a horrible, wretched, manipulative tactic. Never would Taimak deny that, but at the same time, the man in that parody of a prison cell was just as horrid. Just as wretched & just as manipulative. The retired Marine & father inside him would NOT let these injustices stand. So, he'd take his lumps when the time came, but until then…

Adjusting Kalen's Beret for comfort, he continued with his explanation. "She'd provided him a service & the second she was no longer useful, he tried to poison her. Now, _you_ tell _me_ something, Officer Carson, does he sound like someone who deserves all this finery?" Carson's back straightened, his face determined as he answered. "No, Sir. He doesn't." The statement was firm  & sure.

"Then, would you mind sending a file for Mr. Gavin's cell transfer? I trust that you'll choose accommodations that are more fitting? Also, that fancy suit of his seems awfully ill-equipped for the life of a _**prison inmate**_. Could you, possibly, go see about finding him a more appropriate wardrobe?" Taimak's voice was amiable in his request, clearly asking for the officer's help in the matter.

"Yes, Sir. Right away, Sir." Carson saluted.

"And, I don't think that it would be a good idea to let either his phone calls or his mail go unmonitored, anymore. Especially, seeing as 1 of the murder weapons was found inside that very cell…"

"I absolutely agree, Sir. The fact that something like that was allowed by our security is inexcusable." The Warden smiled at the very real enthusiasm & determination in the man's voice. ' _Perfect! He understands that there's something wrong with the system in place here & appears to want to help make it right._'

"Good man. Dismissed! I'll stay behind & watch the _prisoner_ ; I trust you to handle the proceedings while I shoot the shit with the Piss-Head, Officer." With an affirmative & a salute, Carson was off with a slight quirk at the corners of his mouth, leaving Taimak alone with Kristoph. Though, the two could hear faint snickering from the direction that Officer Carson had left in.

Turning to the murderous bastard, Taimak grinned, smoke filtering through his teeth. "I hope your stay in the L.A. Hotel for Criminals' Luxury Suite was a pleasant one, because I'm afraid that they'll be going out of business." The muscled man folded his arms over his chest, his head tilted to the side.

"It seems that they're planning on converting the building into a… _Penitentiary_..." The last word in the sentence having been said with a liberal coating of feigned disbelief; the Warden shrugged, his expression one of exaggerated surprise, clearly saying, 'I don't believe it either, but what can you do?'

"But, you don't have to worry, _Mr. Gavin_." Sarcasm dripped from the name mockingly. "It turns out that _I'm_ going to be employed as the new Manager of this _lovely_ establishment  & I will be allowing you stay."

"However, as you likely heard, you'll be given new accommodations as the ones that you currently have…" The Warden gestured towards the well-furnished study with a wide, sweeping motion. "… just don't seem up to snuff."

The look on Kristoph's face was stuck somewhere between gobsmacked & murderous. W-who did this man think he was!? How DARE he undermine HIM!? "I hope you've enjoyed your brief moment of control, because soon, you'll regret having crossed me…"

Kristoph was utterly shaken at the sound that came from the giant man. It started off as a low rumble that rolled around in his chest, like thunder in a cloud before the inevitable strike of lightning that rent the ground asunder. It then bubbled up through his throat in a sort of wheezing, snicker that sent puffs of smoke bursting out of his nose. Then, he took the burning stub of a cig out of his mouth before throwing his head back in an explosion of great, barking guffaws. A veritable cloud forming above his head as his jubilation released more & more of the pent up smoke that had been caught in his lungs.

It was a full-blown, belly laugh; the kind that left your stomach in pain & your sides in stitches. The sound was openly merry, yet held a strangely cynical bite that echoed down the stone halls of the prison; a true juxtaposition of reality that almost seemed to physically backhand Kristoph with the force of its mocking resonance. It was at this moment that he knew that he would grow to despise this washed up leatherneck, possibly as much as he did that wretched piece of filth, Phoenix Wright.

"That's hilarious, Krissy-boy! Now, pull the other one!" Taimak's grin was practically splitting his face in two as he stuck out his right leg in jest. It was then that Kristoph noticed that the boot was actually a robotic, prosthetic limb; which explained the Purple Heart pinned to the lapel of the old Alpha Marine Service Uniform.

Snickering, the retired Marine absentmindedly took what was left of the still smoking stub of nicotine into his hand & crushed it by rubbing his fingers together.

He did it so casually it was almost like he didn't even notice the heat scorching his skin. Then, after the cinders had been snuffed out completely, he pulled a small, black pouch out of one of the breast pockets of his suit jacket & dumped the ashes inside. This was all done in a mechanical manner that indicated it was so a part of his routine that the man did it subconsciously.

"I hope you don't mind me calling you Krissy, because I'll be calling you that whether you like it or not." He rummaged through one of his other pockets for a second before pulling out a box of cigarettes & a match.

"You know, Krissy. I meant what I said about prison being a punishment. So, I don't know _what_ gave you the idea that you were special enough to be exemplified from that rule." He stuck a new drag in his mouth, pocketing the box before taking the match  & running the red tip across the short, graying chestnut hair of his 5 o'clock shadow.

With a spark, the match ignited in his fingers. He lit his cig, taking a long, deep drag that drained a quarter of its length in a single go. Then, Taimak pinched the flame on the matchstick, killing the flickering light before dropping it in the bag as well. He placed the black pouch back inside his pocket to be safely disposed of, later.

Finally, with great contempt, he grabbed Kristoph's tie through the bars & jerked him close before blowing all of the smoke he'd breathed in, directly into the surprised German's face.

Kristoph could only cough & wheeze at the putrid air that now suffocated him. It wouldn't have been so horrible if he hadn't gasped at that exact moment! His throat burned, while his mouth tasted of ash. It made his eyes water! He couldn't breathe! Horrible memories of asthma attacks as a child seeped through his memory like a poison. He would've strangled the man if he hadn't been shoved backward into one of his plush chairs. It knocked the wind out of him or really, it knocked the breath back into him, because he was no longer incased in that noxious cloud of ash & soot. The cretin was actually laughing at him!

"Welcome to your first day in a real prison, Krissy."

Notes:

Well, JP... It's done! I hope that you & anyone else who read it, enjoyed themselves. I hope Taimak, formerly known as 'The Warden,' was an interesting character & that it made you want to learn more about him.

Fun Fact: There was another name that I'd been considering from your list; Richard Rust. However, I think that after he got his Robo-Leg, some of his subordinates would call him "Commander Rust" or "Colonel Ironfoot" behind closed doors. It could even be one of his aliases.

P.S. I've decided that, if I'm gonna continue with this Series of One-Shots, it needs a name & I figure that 'Prison is a Punishment' would be too long. So, why don't I use Tai's original placeholder name as the Series Title? I present to you, 'The Warden' part 1!


End file.
